Phantom Phriday – The Phantom’s Hideout

We’ve all experienced the despair as Phans of not having enough people around us who want to talk all things Phantom 24/7. Nothing is more disheartening than when you make a witty Phantom reference and your “normal” friends look at you blankly. Sometimes we just need to be with some of our own kind – you know, the ones who get our love for The Phantom of the Opera. There’s a special place for Phans like us: THE PHANTOM’S HIDEOUT.

THE PHANTOM’S HIDEOUT is a group on Facebook that welcomes all Phantom Phans. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a fan of the 2004 film or a Phan of the original novel or any other adaptation. All adaptations are welcome.

My friend, Lisa Gomez, created the group as a place for Phans to hang out and share pictures, videos, books and other content related to the tale. It’s also a great place to simply start up a random discussion, such as why you think a certain scene went the way it did or why certain characters are the way that they are.

I have learned about so many other adaptations, actors, actresses and much more from this group alone. While I’m not always as active as I’d like to be in it due to time constraints, it’s always a fun place to drop in on when I have a bit of free time and am feeling Phantomy.

Of course, there are plenty of other great groups dedicated to The Phantom of the Opera on Facebook. I just chose to highlight this one today since it’s my personal favorite, and I invite you to join us in our group if you enjoy all things Phantom.  We have such fun there, and I guarantee you will learn something you didn’t know at some point or another while hanging out in there.

What are some of your favorite Phantom Facebook groups?

*Always remember to read the rules and guidelines for participation in a group upon joining. Most groups at least demand that you respect other members’ opinions and not engage in any bullying or hate speech. Violation of a group’s terms can get you placed on probation or thrown out of the group altogether.*

Phantom Phriday – Phantom Word Search

For today’s Phantom Phriday, I made us a little something fun to do: a word search. Well, if you’re a nerd like me, then word searches are fun. Lol. I’ve always loved doing them – ever since I was a little girl – so I thought it’d be fun to create us a Phantom of the Opera-inspired one.

Click on the image below, and then click your computer’s “Print” button to print it out.

Feel free to post pictures of your finished word search in the comments below. Happy searching!

Phantom Phriday – Love Never Dies: Yay or Nay?

As any Phan knows, Love Never Dies is the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. While all Phans love the original Phantom, we seem to stand divided on thoughts about LND. There are those of us who love it and those of us who hate it.

Then there are those Phans like me who are kind of in the middle ground. Let me explain. While I find the storyline for LND totally ridiculous, I absolutely love the music (all except for that ridiculous Bathing Beauty. I mean, come on, guys. Can you really see the Phantom, a musical genius, dumbing down his art, his precious music, to write such a silly song? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Lol.)

Not to mention that PHANTASTIC set! I had the pleasure of seeing LND at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, also simply referred to by us TN natives as TPAC, in Nashville, and let me tell you. It was so amazing! The props were out of this world and looked really impressive up on stage. The performance was truly one of the best that I’d ever been to – despite my qualms with the storyline.

So I’m interested in how many of my blog followers are Phans of LND. Please cast you votes in the poll below.

Also, have you seen the show performed live? If so, please feel free to share your experiences below in the comments.

Have a PHANTASTIC Phriday!

Phantom Phriday – The Phantom’s Lair Jewelry Collection by Saturdaychic

For today’s Phantom Phriday, I chose to spotlight one of my fave Phantom shops. It’s an Etsy shop where cartoonist Stephanie Piro (a.k.a. saturdaychic) showcases her love for The Phantom of the Opera by creating beautiful POTO-inspired jewelry.

Quality Craftsmanship

Every Phangirl needs a piece of Phantom jewelry to wear, and Stephanie’s creations are not only beautiful, but they are high-quality, handcrafted pieces that hold up. Nothing is more irritating to me than buying a piece of jewelry only to have all the charms fall off or the chain break. Stephanie’s jewelry doesn’t do that. She makes it all with quality materials, and her creations are unique.

Unique Pieces

When you get a piece of jewelry from Stephanie, oftentimes it’s an original creation with no others like it out there. On occasion, she will make more than one of a popular piece, and you can solicit commissions from her. A word of advice, though: there’s only one Stephanie, so if you want to commission a piece as a gift for Christmas or an upcoming holiday, put your order in early so that she has time to get them made and shipped out to you by the day you want them.

I have several pieces from Stephanie. The first one I got by winning a Valentine’s Day contest she ran. Stephanie’s shop is fun in that she occasionally does giveaways and hosts interactive activities to get her customers involved. I loved the first piece so much that I bought one, and then I was gifted some by friends. Below are a few pics of some of the pieces I have from Stephanie’s collection. I love the way she packages them, by the way. They always come in these pretty little bags and boxes tied with POTO-themed ribbons. Stephanie’s business card is always super cute too.

This 2004 movie-inspired necklace was a gift from my dear friend, Lisa.

This has to be one of my fave pieces. I love the red rose against the black and the cameo style of this necklace.

I love the way Stephanie adds unique touches like the little Phantom mask to her jewelry.

This was the bracelet I won in Stephanie’s Valentine’s Day giveaway back in 2017, I think it was.

Check out Stephanie’s Etsy shop here:

While I’m featuring the Phantom aspect of her shop, she also has other stuff too sometimes. If you’re interested in something for another fandom or anything, just shoot Stephanie a message, and I’m sure she’d be happy to work with you.

Here’s Stephanie’s blog if you want to follow her for news and updates on any contests and giveaways:

Have you bought any jewelry from Stephanie’s Etsy shop? If so, please share your experiences and/or pics below.

Phantom Phriday – Phantom Paper Dolls

There are so many amazing Phantom of the Opera-inspired dolls on the market. Some of them are Barbie-type dolls while others are made from yarn and cloth. Unfortunately, these dolls can be quite pricey due to their rarity. For those Phans who want some Phantom dolls without all the expense, there are Paper Dolls by Cory.

These ingenious dolls are made of paper, as their name implies. Cory Jensen designs them and offers them as free printouts on her Facebook page. Simply click on the link above to be directed to the Phantom dolls and costumes. All you have to do is click on the images, print them and then cut out the dolls and costumes. They’re quite cute!

But Cory makes more than just Phantom dolls. If you love Beauty and the Beast or countless other musicals and Disney movies, she’s designed dolls and costumes for them too, and she creates posters and art images in general.

You can see more of Cory’s Art on her Tumblr page and on her DeviantArt.

Let us know if you print any of these cute paper dolls! Share a picture!

Phantom Phriday – The Mirror of Eriksed

For today’s Phantom Phriday, I bring you a lovely meshing of two fandoms: The Phantom of the Opera (of course) and Harry Potter. Those of you who are fans of HP will remember the Mirror of Erised that supposedly reflects the deepest desires of your heart when you look into it.

I don’t know who the created this, but I found it on this Pinterest profile: https://www.pinterest.com/karenepalacioscastro1csec/the-phantom-of-the-opera/

Whoever out there created it, if you happen to stumble across this blog, Contact me, and I will happily credit you for your phantastic artwork.

And it is phantastic indeed! When I stumbled across this gem on Pinterest, I thought to myself, What a clever idea! The artist expertly merged the mirror in Christine Daae’s dressing room (the one-way mirror the Phantom stands behind to give Christine her voice lessons from what she believes is the Angel of Music)  with the concept of the Mirror of Erised to suggest that when Christine sees Erik’s face in the mirror, she is really seeing the deepest desire of her heart.

I love the connection and the play on words, calling it The Mirror of Eriksed. Hehe.

Have you stumbled across any amazing Phan art this week, or have you created some yourself? Please feel free to share your links in the comments below.

And have a Phantastic Phriday!

Phantom Phriday – Bradley J. Parrish Paintings

Okay, so I realized that I need to be more active on this blog, so I thought I’d start something called Phantom Phriday where I’ll post something having to do with Phantom of the Opera every Friday. It might be a feature of an artist or something else, but it’ll be Phantom related, and it’ll come every Friday (ideally, of course, since realistically there might be some days I can’t get to it).

To start off with, I thought I’d include a gallery of some of Bradley J. Parrish’s Phantom of the Opera paintings. I absolutely love his work. The only gripe I have is that his Christine seems much older than the character really was. Other than that, though, his style of painting is superb.

Enjoy the slideshow of his gallery below, and to learn more about each painting, check out his official website at Parrish Fine Art.

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